Turbulent Desires(25)

When Jeff Gordon and David Ragan easily maneuvered themselves around  other cars toward the front of the pack, the entire stand was on its  feet, including Lindsey, who didn't even know any of the players.

"People sure seem to get excited when that number twenty-four car passes," Lindsey said.

"Yep, that's Jeff Gordon. He's a legend. He's won so many awards, it  would take an hour to name them, but he's going to be broadcasting now.  The fans hate to lose him on the track, so they are showing their love."

"I guess it's sort of dangerous, not something people would do forever," she said as the race finished and the fans went crazy.

She didn't even know who'd won. But the stands had certainly been filled  to capacity and the crowd was energetic. Even with the cars no longer  speeding past them in unbelievable maneuvers, Lindsey was fascinated by  it all.         

     



 

"Want to meet the winner?" Mav asked, pulling her out of her daze.

"Can we do that?" she asked, then shook her head. "Never mind. Of course you can," she added with a laugh.

"Yeah, I sponsor number nineteen," he said with a chuckle. She hadn't  booed that car once, thankfully. Though that meant she wouldn't be  getting her punishment. Darn.

"I'd be surprised if that hadn't been your car," she told him with a grin.

Trophies were given and pictures taken, and then it was time for the winner-number nineteen-to take his victory lap.

"Ready, Mav?" the man asked.

"Yep, I've got her helmet," he said with a grin.

When Lindsey realized what they were saying, her face went a little green as she looked back and forth between the grinning men.

"You think I'm getting into that thing?" she gasped.

"You haven't lived 'til you've gone two hundred miles per hour," Jet said with a laugh.

"How old are you?" she exclaimed. "You don't even look old enough to  have a driver's license, let alone to be traveling at such high speeds."  That made the guy throw back his head with laughter.

"I'm twenty-five, Lindsey, but if it makes you feel any better, my dad  had a mini-track for me and my first racecar when I was five years old.  Granted, the thing only went five miles per hour at the time, but she  could corner like nobody's business," Jet said with a chuckle.

"Okay, but if something happens to me, then I'm haunting you both," she warned.

But when she was strapped into the car, securely in place with the motor  revving, she felt a rush of adrenaline flow through her.

"You ready?" he asked, his grin almost as mesmerizing as Maverick's.

"I guess it's now or never," she said with a nervous giggle.

And then they were off. The tires squealed as the engine purred. They  were flying around the track. But he didn't stop at just one lap. He  took her around several more times before skidding to a stop where  Maverick was waiting for them, a big grin on his face.

What she didn't realize until the helmet was off and Maverick was  scooping her up into his arms was that she was grinning madly too.

"That was the biggest thrill I think I've ever had," she said, completely out of breath.

"I knew you'd love it," he said before leaning down and kissing her.

"Hey. I'm the one who gave the thrill. Don't I get a little kiss too?" Jet said, interrupting them.

Without even thinking about it, Lindsey let go of Maverick and gave Jet a hug, then kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks, darling. It was fun," Jet said before he was bombarded by media people.

Once he turned away, her smile fell as her eyes rounded in shock at what  she'd done. She'd initiated touch with a stranger-and not just any  stranger-a man.

She looked at Maverick, who looked very proud-and slightly jealous.

"Am I going to have to kick his ass?" Mav asked with a crooked grin.

"I . . . I can't believe I did that," she gasped.

He wrapped his arm around her and began walking her out to the parking lot.

"It's the adrenaline. I still get it when I fly. There's a thrill that's  indescribable when you are speeding like that," he told her.

"But . . ." She stopped. She didn't know what to say or how to explain it.

"You're learning to touch again. You're learning it doesn't hurt, but  that it's actually necessary," he said before leaning down and kissing  her on the cheek.

He was right. Everything he was doing for her was helping. She hated how  absolutely right he was. The man was a freaking magician.

"Thank you for another remarkable day, Mav. Truly, it was indescribable," she said.

"It was my utmost pleasure," he told her as they reached his truck.

When a wicked smile appeared on her lips, she could see she had begun making him nervous. She spoke.

"Okay, now I'm going to ask you to do something truly dangerous," she said.

"Is there something more dangerous than driving or flying fast?" he asked with a laugh.

"My parents are having dinner tomorrow. Want to accompany me?"

Her stomach was tied in knots as she waited. It was so intimate to ask  him to her parents'. She kind of wanted to take it back now that it was  on the table. But she didn't know how she would manage to do that.

He grinned as he looked at her. "I'd love to. And trust me, that's not dangerous at all."

"Believe me, after an evening with my family, you might be rethinking that," she said with a laugh.         

     



 

She laughed even more when he got just a touch of worry in his eyes. Oh  yeah, meeting her family was going to be quite the entertainment.  Especially since she'd never brought a man home before.

Maybe she hadn't really thought this out after all. Her family was going to be giving both of them the third degree all night.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It was so odd to be at work and have her mind other places. For years,  Lindsey would look forward to her shifts at the hospital, and now what  she looked forward to was spending time with Maverick.

Yes, she knew that work was never going to be the same again after the  attack, but she should still get satisfaction out of her job. She wanted  to get that feeling back. She'd spent too many years in school to ever  let one event, no matter how awful, stop her from doing what she'd  wanted to do from the very first time she'd slapped a bandage on one of  her brothers and declared him healed.

But she had only a couple of more semesters of school left and then she  would be a nurse practitioner. Maybe she just needed a new scene. It had  been her stubbornness that had brought her back to the hospital where  she'd been attacked. She wasn't letting those men beat her.

She'd proven she could come back. She didn't need to keep tormenting  herself. It was hard working at this hospital, and even harder when it  was slow. But she wouldn't dare voice that thought aloud, because she  would be tempting fate, and in a hospital, you never wished for more  activity. When you did that, emergency calls tended to pile up, and that  wasn't fun either.

Lindsey was startled out of her thoughts by the radio.

EMS please respond to 45893 Main Ave. Seventy-year-old female, cut on hand.

Betty turned to Lindsey and smiled before she laughed. Lindsey let out a  long-suffering sigh. They all knew that address well. They also knew  Lucy must be sitting at home feeling lonely.

"I guarantee you she scratched herself so she could get the ambulance there," Betty said with a laugh.

"Yep. None of us are going to take that bet," Lindsey told her as the new nurse on staff began walking up to them.

"Oh, I bet I can get Suzanne to take the bet," Betty said wickedly.

"That so wouldn't be fair," Lindsey said with a scowl. "Quit hazing the new girl."

Betty grumbled, but she did it in good humor.

Dr. Beel walked up as they were talking and heard who was coming in. He scowled.

"She had better have a finger hanging on by the skin," he grumbled. He  wasn't feeling too good and obviously wanted to go lie down. He knew  Lucy came in for attention, and not the medical sort.

"I think she has a crush on you," Lindsey told him with a smile.

He grumbled before moving toward the ER.

It took only about ten minutes before the ambulance was pulling into the  bay. Lindsey waited by the back door, a shiver rushing through her when  it opened and the cold wind blew in.

Her favorite medics strolled inside with Lucy on the gurney, a grin on  her face as she chatted with the young guys. They didn't seem put out in  the least. They got a kick out of the woman they called their favorite  patient.

Of course she was their favorite. She'd been in the hospital more times  than most of the nursing staff. She had come in for everything:  complaints of chest pain (which ended up being her skin rubbed a bit too  raw from a too-tight bra), a broken leg, arm, and hand, which had all  been fully intact. She'd come in for burns that had really been  scratches, and for fevers when her temperature was normal.

The first half-dozen calls, the paramedics had tried to assure her she  was fine, telling her she didn't need to come in. But she would always  tell them it was an emergency, that she would die if they left her.